A Friendship For All Seasons
by nachalainne
Summary: Following the life of Remus Lupin, James Potter, Sirius Black, and Peter Pettigrew through their years at Hogwarts and many of their major dilemnas. slow to update
1. First Year

The once-quiet room was suddenly alive with life as two rambunctious preteens burst though the oaken door, crashing over open trunks and the five four-poser bed that made up the first year boys' dormitory. Startled by his housemates' rowdy appearance, Remus Lupin looked up quickly, dragging the sleeve of his robe across his face before the noisy duo could begin leaping over him. An awkward vaulting sensation alerted him, as he had suspected, to his comrades' arrival as he pitched forward on his mattress, tossing both hands out to save himself from a feathery face plant.

James Potter and Sirius Black bounded on to their fellow first year's bed with all the weight of two boys doing cannonballs, bouncing around and cheering joyfully for a few moments before settling back to stare at their puffy-eyed comrade.

"Hey Nobby-No-Mates!" Sirius taunted, "haven't see you in class, lately."

"Been skiving' off, have you?" James questioned, childish voice already overbearingly haughty.

Remus shook his head violently, sniffing deeply before answering. "No, I'm not! I'm just… I haven't been feeling well," he muttered dejectedly, eyes downcast and lost in nothingness.

Sirius watched him confusedly, eyebrow raised. "You sure are sick a lot. Are you, y'know, okay?"

James cut in before Remus had a chance to assure him otherwise. "You are looking a bit peaky, mate. Y'know - more than usual."

Lifting his head quickly, Remus's eyes refocused on James's face, lips moving soundlessly. What was it he had said? The word - the word at the end of his first statement. It wasn't bloke, not boy-o, not even Remus. James had tagged the word 'mate' to the end of his speech - a Briticism synonymous with the word 'friend.'

His voice wavered before he could even begin to form an answer, making him appear all the more sickly. "I- I- I, uh… I'll be fine." His white face brightened considerably, something close to a pale pink flush creeping into his pallid cheeks.

Snickering at Remus, Sirius reached out and playfully tousled the other Gryffindor's hair, lips drawn back in a half smile. "Well, then," Remus's smile widened.

"Say," James began casually. "D'you wanna come with us to nick some grub from the kitchens?" He slid off the four-poster, Sirius scrambling off behind him.

"I-I'd love to!" Remus answered, diving off after them, grey eyes wide and twinkling with astonishment. "Wait - you know where the kitchens are?" He wasn't at all surprised that the conniving duo planned on robbing the kitchens - the true shock cam with the knowledge that after three weeks at Hogwarts, they already knew where it was. Eyeing them both with a look similar to worship, he fumbled around with his shoes - attempting to pull them on as the others answered.

"Oh, Remus," James sighed, draping his arm over the smaller boy's shoulders as he stood up. "We know where everything is." With that parting statement, he steered his newest friend out of the dormitory, Sirius snickering as he bounded along in front.


	2. Second Year

"Remus!"

A whirlwind of three boys barreled down the corridor, bursting through the heavy wooden door to the Hospital Wing. A sandy-haired twelve year old turned his head sharply, grey eyes glinting with wonder at the oncoming hurricane. The bristling matron with whom he had been conversing simply looked furious.

"Mr. Potter!" She screeched, voice echoing against the vaulted stone ceiling. "Mr. Pettigrew, Mr. Black! What do you think you are doing?"

Sirius skidded to a halt beside his housemate and friend, grinning up with a look that could charm the tea cozy off a house elf. "Madame Pomfrey! Lovely day…" His close friends and fellow storm causers, James and Peter, came to a crashing stop behind him. Their 'stop', if it could be called that, was actually more of a rugby tackle gone wrong ending in a dog pile at Remus's feet.

Where James's Quidditch skills had partially saved him, Peter had no such luck and had bowled over James and Sirius as though they didn't exist. Grinning up from what he would later claim to be a very well polished floor, the mousy haired boy smiled at his friend and the irate matron. "'lo Remus!"

Remus could only shake his head with a sigh at the spectacle that was his friends. Madame Pomfrey, however, had a different idea. Her high-pitched voice, threatening to report them to the Headmaster, caused all four boys to grimace. It was only when Remus had assured himself that her pitch could become no shriller, that she turned on him. "Mr. Lupin!" she screeched, voice menacing. "You would do well to exercise some control over your companions! That said - you know my opinion on the matter, though I will not force you to stay. Good day." She turned with a huff and stalked off, still fuming.

"Stay?" Sirius mouthed, not daring to put voice to his words until he heard the office door click shut, a bit heavily in Remus's opinion. "Are you still sick?" He asked, ignoring James and Peter who were attempting to disentangle themselves.

"No, I'm fine." Remus answered sheepishly, running a hand nervously through his hair. Despite his words, he was looking a bit peaky.

James paused, considering his friend with bent brows before speaking. "Remus - what's wrong with you?"

Remus glanced at him, offering a hand to help him up as he answered. "I'm not sure, Madame Pomfrey says it's some sort of cold…"

James took it, leaving both Sirius and Peter on the ground. "And every other time you've been sick? What was it then?"

"What?" Remus's lips parted in surprise, eyes widening with confusion, eyebrows furrowed.

Peter stared at him, watery little eyes glittering suspiciously. "You're sick like once a month, mate. That's just not natural!"

"But I-I! I'm fine. There's nothing wrong with me!" He answered hastily, a pleading note in his voice as he attempted to convince his friends.

Sirius and James shared a look before turning back to Remus. "Rems…" Sirius whispered, using a nickname he'd created for his fellow Gryffindor during their first year. "If it's not you - it's your mum. You're always disappearing because of some illness, or because something's wrong. How long are you going to keep the truth from us?"

"Truth?" Remus gasped exasperatedly, voice beginning to mimic the matron's. "I am telling the truth! Sickness just seems to run in my family! It's like, like it's hereditary or something!"

"Or something." James repeated, voice flat and even. "It isn't hereditary. But it is contagious, isn't it?"

"I don't know what you're talking about." Remus's face was expressionless, but the color had drained from his cheeks.

Obstinately determined as ever, James pushed - refusing to let it go. He hardened his gaze. "How is it every time you get sick, or have to go home" he demanded slowly, "it's during the full moon?"

"At first," Sirius cut in, trying to ease the obvious tension James was causing. "We thought it was pure coincidence." His eyes, grey and pleading, searched Remus's own. "… but now I'm just not sure. You disappear every month, mate," he said, stressing the words.

Peter remained silent on the floor, noticing only the soft shuffling of feet, and the obvious nerves Remus was feeling as he wrung his hands.

"What are you trying to say, Sirius?" When in doubt, feign ignorance.

"We know what you are, Remus." Sirius answered, tone reminiscent of a canine whine.

James barely let him finish, brash attitude storming through the easy silence Sirius had created. He had waited long enough to get the truth, and since Remus seemed incapable of admitting it himself, he was set to do it for him. "You're a werewolf, Remus." There was no doubt in his voice. There was no fear. There was only the brutal honesty of the fact.

The sandy-haired Gryffindor ducked his head in shame, face the deepest shade of crimson. His cheeks burned - he couldn't bring himself to reply. He though he'd hidden his secret well, covered his tracks with all many of lies that he forced himself to tell his friends. As much as it pained him to hide the truth, the reality of them abandoning him if they found out hurt even more.

He continued staring at the floor, lost in his state of semi-denial. This was the end. The end of the only real friendship he had ever had. A lost cause to the same illness that had robbed him of all his companions before now. This was the end of the road. Remus accepted the silence in resignation, allowing his won despair to wash over him with watery eyes.

"Why didn't you just tell us, mate?"

A further, stunned silence. Remus looked up - blinking away the tears that threatened to run down his face. All three boys were still arrayed around him, watching him with looks of confusion. "What?" he asked. In the interests of his own self-misery, he had expected Sirius and James to run off jeering, mocking him contemptuously as they abandoned him to his exile. It was an interesting shock to see them still standing there - sitting, in Peter's case - with no intention of departing.

"Why didn't you just tell us the truth? Why'd you have to hide it?" Sirius clarified. They had all taken Remus's silence as self-condemnation.

The accused werewolf eyes them warily. "… because," he began. "Because I was afraid you'd hate me. Ditch me because… because I'm a werewolf." His cheeks burned again with his open confession. "No one likes werewolves."

A quiet chuckle forced him to look up again. Sirius and James were looking at each other and laughing merrily - but not out of contempt. Something about their cheerfulness told him they weren't laughing at him, at least - not because of what he was.

"You though we'd leave you because you're a bloody werewolf?" Sirius asked loudly; Remus attempted to hush him. "What kind of asses do you take us for?"

"We're your mates, Remus!" James chimed in - perfectly pleasant now that the truth was on the table.

Remus suddenly felt very silly, silly and altogether content. "Then… you're not mad?"

"Pssh, no!" James replied. "I was upset because you kept hiding it from us. Friends like us don't hide secrets like that."

Friends. Remus had friends. Real ones that accepted him for who he really was, regardless of his 'furry little problem.' The thought was overwhelming.

"Now tell us about it!" Sirius demanded, grabbing the boy and tousling his hair. "We already know that you don't stay in the Hospital Wing, where do you go?"

"Does it hurt, transforming and all? I heard it was painful." James extended his hand to Peter, hoisting him off the floor with remarkable ease.

"Does it ever," Remus replied sullenly, falling in step with the pack. As they departed the Wing, he recounted every grotesque detail of his life as werewolf. For the next few hours he regaled them with stories that he had never before related to another person, delightfully amused to understand that they were willing to appreciate him even more.


	3. Third Year

Remus Lupin sat enthroned in his domain, surrounded by thousands of leather-bound subjects just waiting to pour out their contents to serve the expansion of his mind. He was in the library, resting comfortably at a desk he had long claimed as entirely his own. Judging by the immense and precarious piles of books, it would remain so for quite some time.

He was, at that moment, engaged in a tome recommended to him by his Transfigurations professor and Head of House, Minerva McGonagall, one that she promised would more than alleviate his thirst for knowledge in the area of human transfiguration. As a scholar, and a werewolf, Remus had a keen interest in Transfigurations, though it was nothing in comparison to that of his best mate: Sirius Black.

It had been nearly a year since Sirius, Peter, and James had uncovered Remus's 'furry little problem.' Now, midway through their third year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Sirius had become somewhat obsessed with it.

Something had gotten into his head, following the stunning performance of Professor McGonagall transforming herself into a striped tabby cat in the middle of class, that he too would be able to transform into an animal at will. Some would consider his avid fascination to be a temporary amusement, of which Sirius had many. For Remus - who was doing the primary amount of research for his slacking, lazy friend - it had become an addiction.

Flipping delicately through the pages, Remus finally stumbled across the section he had been searching for. Bugger ancient texts for not having an index. Skimming the words, he grinned as he turned to his snoozing companion. "Siri," he whispered.

"Hey… Sirius." The other Gryffindor snored loudly before rolling over in his chair, hands tucked beneath his head like a pillow. Remus looked appalled, shocked with Sirius's ability to sleep almost anywhere. He shook his head and chuckled to himself. Trust Sirius to fall asleep in the library, the only place where pretty girls don't loiter.

Leaning in to whisper in the unconscious boy's ear, Remus mumbled a few words that were guaranteed to awaken Sirius. "Those hot girls over there are checking you out…" As expected, Sirius's eyes shot open. He sat up quickly on the edge of his chair, blinking the sleep from his eyes as he looked around quickly.

Not giving Sirius a moment to understand what had happened, Remus shoved the book under his nose. "Is this what you were looking for?" he asked casually. Sirius took the book, yawning, and sat back in the seat.

Several minutes later, when the information he was blankly staring at began to fully sink in, his eyes widened again. He quickly skimmed the section Remus had pointed out - for the hundredth time - face bright with excitement. "Yes! Bloody hell, Rems, this is it!"

Remus stole the book back, carefully examining it, as well as the spell provided. "I don't know… this is remarkably complex. And you have to register with the Ministry…"

Sirius openly laughed at Remus's doubt. "Oh, ye of little faith," he responded, voice light and cheery. "You wait and see. Give it a little practice, some light study, and James and I will have it by Tuesday."

Remus rolled his eyes, taking Sirius's bravado for what it was. "Sure you will - let's go and find James, eh? Before you go signing him up for anymore insanely difficult projects."

"He doesn't mind, love of the spotlight and all." Sirius grinned, half-smile exposing pearly white canines. "Peter, however… we may have to help him."

Shuddering at the thought, Remus shook his head. Spells could go horribly wrong when performed by inexperienced but perfectly capable wizards. He couldn't imagine what would happen to an inexperienced and perfectly incapable one. "Where is Peter, anyway?"

"Probably wetting himself."

"Watching James?"

"Yep."

"And where is James?"

"Probably showing off."

"At the pitch?"

"Yep."

They laughed together as they collected Remus's things and exited the library. The old librarian, Madame Pince, watched them cautiously, shooting daggers at their joyful laughter.


End file.
